By Brandon Moseley
Alabama Political Reporter
On Monday, November 23, the civil rights group, ColorOfChange, condemned Republican Presidential candidate and New York City billionaire Donald Trump for defending supporters allegedly “roughing up” a BLM (Black Lives Matter) protestor in Birmingham on Saturday and for sharing a graphic on Twitter presenting falsified crime statistics claiming that Blacks are the perpetrators of most murders of Whites in the country.
The Executive Director of ColorOfChange.org, Rashad Robinson, said in a statement, “Over the weekend Donald Trump published a grossly inaccurate image on his Twitter account, originally posted by a neo-Nazi, with made-up crime statistics meant to stoke the flames of violence, anger, intolerance and fear in the hearts and minds of his constituents. The fact that the leading candidate for the Republican party’s nomination to President of the United States reads, shares and supports the views of neo-Nazis should signal a deafening alarm to all Americans of good faith. Make no mistake; anyone continuing to do business with Donald Trump – media, government and corporations – is making a choice to align with his white supremacist rhetoric and the violent actions and consequences that ensue.”
The group is calling on businesses and government to cut ties and contracts to presidential candidate. Robinson said, “ColorOfChange and our members are calling on all of Trump’s business partners, from the New York City government to the companies paying Trump speaker fees, to immediately discontinue their relationships with Donald Trump. From brutal verbal assaults on people of color to endorsing physical violence and intimidation of peaceful protestors, Donald Trump continues to contribute to a hostile cultural and media climate for people of color in this country. Hate crimes, white terrorist attacks, and daily violence against Black Americans, Muslim, Arab and South Asian Americans as well as Latinos and other immigrants are encouraged by the hateful and false narratives being spread by Donald Trump and those that profit from his platform.”
Robinson claimed, “Since 9/11, nearly twice as many people have been killed by homegrown antigovernment terrorists and white supremacists than jihadists. Despite signs that an ailing economy and the election of a Black president would fuel a reactionary response from white supremacist groups, efforts by government agencies to conduct research on right-wing extremism have run into resistance and criticism from Republicans.”
A half dozen Black Lives Matter protestors were in attendance at the Birmingham Donald Trump campaign event, attended by 10,000 supporters. CNN and several national media sources are claiming that the most obnoxious protestor was punched and kicked by Trump supporters in attendance. Donald Trump demanded that security remove the loud and obnoxious heckler. Trump said, “Get him out of here. Get him the Hell out of here.”
On Sunday’s Fox and Friends, Trump was asked if his supporters roughed up the man. Trump said, “I don’t know. Rough up? Maybe he should have been roughed up because it was absolutely disgusting what he was doing.” ‘The man that was. I don’t know, you say ‘roughed up. He was so obnoxious and so loud. He was screaming. I had 10,000 people in the room yesterday…….10,000 people. And this guy started screaming by himself.”
The BLM protester, Mercutio Southall Jr., claimed afterwards that he was punched, kicked, and called a “monkey” and a “n****r” by the Trump supporters. Many Trump supporters have come forward to deny that account.
Trump leads all contenders in the Republican field.
